When It Comes to AI, Admins Must Fight Fire With Fire
The scale and scope of hackers today is downright scary. Armed with artificial intelligence (AI), cybercriminals are constantly testing enterprise ecosystems with new methods of social engineering, password cracking, and zero-day discovery. From hyper-personalized phishing campaigns to day-and-night vulnerability probing, they’re always watching and waiting for a way in.
AI flips the script on cybersecurity and admins have no other choice but to adapt. In today’s remote-first reality, traditional protection methods aren’t enough to protect users and endpoints. Instead, admins need to get onboard with this technology – fast – and use it to thwart attacks.
This demands a defense arsenal backed by AI that recognizes deepfakes, flags suspicious logins, and identifies security gaps before they’re exploited. Better yet, admins can also use AI on the backend to streamline their processes, generate custom security scripts, and better connect different operating systems.
This emerging technology isn’t a nice-to-have but a need-to-have. Therefore, it’s up to admins to upskill and onboard these AI-powered defense tools as quickly as possible. If not, they risk falling behind in an escalating technological arms race.
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The (smarter) threat landscape
There’s a reason AI is taking up a lot of oxygen across sectors. Automation begets efficiency and innovation. This is no different in cybersecurity where these cutting-edge tools pave the way toward new offensive and defensive strategies. Both cracking and protecting ecosystems now hinges on AI – it just depends which side of the security fence you’re on.
From the perspective of hackers, AI is a productivity breakthrough to attack at scale, with free or cheap generative tools allowing them to do so at little to no cost. Cybercriminals increasingly see AI as a game-changer with 7 out of 10 believing it enhances hacking, up from just 2 out of 10 in 2023. And this is evident in the escalating sophistication of threats.
Social engineering is a prime example. Automated tools now enable convincing deepfake voice calls and hyper-targeted email campaigns to trick employees. Hackers are even stealing biometrics and hijacking user faces to circumvent biometric two-factor authentication scans.
Meanwhile, password security faces unprecedented challenges as AI models predict patterns and variations at lightning speed. And when it comes to discovering new vulnerabilities – known as zero-days – AI can relentlessly scan the web to identify both emerging threats and unpatched fixes.
Across the board, this empowers hackers to do more with less. The good news? AI can similarly accelerate defensive strategies and strengthen them with human insight.
The AI defense arsenal
Just like hackers can supercharge their efforts with AI, admins can better defend the enterprise ecosystem. Deepfakes, for example, are still relatively easy to spot by analyzing subtle inconsistencies. AI-powered analysis systems are therefore growing to detect synthetic audio and text. Of course, rolling out this functionality requires implementation across teams and employee education, but smarter social engineering can be stopped.
Similarly, automated programs can weed out users or profiles acting irregularly. If passwords are cracked – another thing AI can help to prevent – tools that are always searching and monitoring internal networks can flag this activity before it goes too far.
Further, when linked with unified endpoint management platforms, AI can also automatically scan for software patches, update devices, and stop zero-day hackers. Many enterprises are finding that AI-powered patch management significantly reduces their vulnerability windows while cutting IT workload, automating what was previously a manual and time-consuming process.
Admins aren’t in this alone. Instead, they must fight fire with fire and adequately protect against smarter external hacks and threats. Likewise, internally, this technology can be used for good, giving teams a clearer view of their security posture and better backend connectivity.
The automation imperative
AI automation isn’t just helpful for admins – it’s essential in a landscape of evolving and multiplying threats. This is especially true amidst a tech talent shortage which forces admins to wear multiple hats. AI in this sense gives internal teams additional eyes and ears.
Script generation is one area where AI is making significant inroads. Modern unified endpoint management solutions are beginning to integrate AI assistants to generate and validate custom scripts through natural language prompts – a game-changer for teams managing security across different operating systems. This is something we’ve seen first-hand with Hexnode Genie: admins can quickly deploy security measures across operating systems without deep coding expertise instead of spending hours writing and testing scripts manually.
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Further, intelligent policy enforcement can automatically adjust device permissions based on risk levels, while predictive analytics help forecast potential system bottlenecks before they impact operations. AI-powered log analysis can also sift through thousands of security alerts to surface genuine threats. Again, internally just as much as externally, AI is a powerful tool that can help admins more than it can harm them.
It’s worth remembering, though, that AI isn’t the be-all and end-all. Instead, it forms part of a larger security system. Employees are the front line of any company and, as touched upon, also need training to help stop these smarter hacks. Company-wide efforts like regular training sessions and online courses are well worth exploring.
Likewise, admins need effective methods to stop hackers in their tracks, which is where zero trust becomes invaluable. This security posture never trusts and always verifies access attempts while also segmenting specific devices and networks. The result tightens security at each endpoint and prevents lateral movement among other benefits.
Whatever happens next, the days of “castle-and-moat” cybersecurity are long gone. Modern enterprises need a dynamic, AI-enabled approach to security that evolves as rapidly as the threats they face. AI isn’t just another tool in the cybersecurity arsenal – it’s the foundation of modern defense strategies.
Hacks and hackers are only getting smarter. It’s up to admins to embrace these advances or risk falling permanently behind.
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